According to Debussy: "The play of the graceful, fleeting lines described by Faure's music may be compared to the gesture of a beautiful woman without either suffering comparison." The word "ethereal" is the one most often applied to the melodies of this student of Saint-Seans and teacher of Ravel who once played second organist to Charles-Marie Widor.

The Pavane is well-known, though perhaps not as well known as the choral works of Faure, and has been set for any number of combinations of instruments, including saxophones and tuba (tuba?). But in Keith Templeman's arrangement, we find the original orchestral score reduced to just two essential voices, violin and cello. It is fitting that an orchestral work by a master of chamber music be converted to an intimate chamber music setting.

As a cellist himself, Keith Templeman has taken full advantage of the instrument, working a broad range of both tones and expressions for the instrument. The melodic line played by the violin almost becomes accompaniment for the cello part (it's about time, say the cellists of the world).

This piece could possibly be played by other combinations of bass-soprano instruments, but be forewarned. The violin part is probably lower than most flutists or oboists will want to go, and the cello part, with its immense range, will be quite difficult to manage well on any wind instrument save the bassoon, though a very good tubist with an exceptional high range might do well, perhaps paired with a trombone, french horn, euphonium, or trumpet playing the soprano part, though transposing is is left to you if you want to venture it.

MP3 sound sample: Entire piece (synthesizer/midi).



PAVANE (OPUS 50) by Gariel Faure, arranged for Violin/Cello duet by Keith Templeman, comes in a downloadable PDF file of 800K that contains a three page score, one page violin part, one page cello part, plus a license page, six pages in all. Performance time should be around 3:45, depending upon interpretation.